Online booking of train tickets is taking giant strides in the country. Each  month more passengers are booking their tickets through the internet indicating that the popularity of online reservations has gone up.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which has been entrusted with the responsibility of providing booking through the internet and other modes, created history on Tuesday last as it recorded the maximum number of people booking their tickets online on a single day — 75,111 — and the revenue generated through this was highest too —over Rs 7 crore.

Statistics of the IRCTC (a subsidiary of the Indian Railways) show that in August 2007, a total of 12,90,608 users successfully booked their tickets online [www.irctc.co.in] generating a revenue of nearly Rs 110 crore [Rs 109,13,69,500 to be precise]. On an average, this came to about 43,020 people booking their tickets online per day with the Indian Railways getting an income of roughly Rs 3.6 crore daily. All this in August, generally seen as the lean season in railway circles.

The IRCTC’s main income from online booking is generated through credit cards. In August, 6.3 lakh people successfully booked their tickets online worth Rs 56.63 crore while 3.76 lakh people booked tickets through debit cards and net banking generated Rs 28.5 crore. The rest were booked through cash cards, at petrol pumps etc.
Elated over people’s response  IRCTC director Vinod Asthana said a target of one lakh tickets  (to be booked) by March 2008 has been set. Noting that it was the largest e-commerce site in Asia-Pacific in terms of value of tickets generated, Asthana told Deccan Herald that banks were now coming forward to sell tickets through credit and debit cards. “We are trying to make it as easy as possible for customers.” It is the comfort and the access to technology that is driving the people to use the internet to book tickets. Says IRCTC group general manager Prem Narayan:  “With online access,  you can book from the comfort  of your office or home and you can see the schedules of all the trains you want.”

To further encourage the trend, the IR has reduced the e-ticket service charges from July 1. The IRCTC brought down the minimum charge for sleeper class tickets from Rs 15 to Rs 10 per ticket.The other additional charges per passenger, however, stay.